3 held for violating ad by-law

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Johannesburg - Three members of AfriForum Youth were arrested on Friday for violating an outdoor advertising by-law, Tshwane metro police said.

Spokesperson Console Tleane said the three were arrested while erecting a signboard saying "Welcome to Pretoria" along the N1.

They would also face charges of stopping on a freeway without a valid reason and failing to obey the instructions of a police officer.

The civil rights group members were erecting the board in protest against another sign saying "Welcome to Tshwane".

On Thursday, AfriForum Youth chairperson Ernst Roets said the sign was to remind people arriving in Pretoria that the city's name was Pretoria, not Tshwane.

It was to be erected next to the highway, in front of a trailer displaying the "Welcome to Tshwane" sign.

Arts and Culture Minister Lulu Xingwana delayed a decision on whether to change Pretoria's name to Tshwane after vehement opposition by AfriForum and the Freedom Front Plus.

The North Gauteng High Court has since then indefinitely postponed a decision on whether to make permanent a 2008 interim order preventing the name change.

This, after AfriForum and the Freedom Front Plus argued that President Jacob Zuma had called for a national dialogue on the matter.

Roets said AfriForum had received "numerous" complaints that World Cup visitors were "misled" into believing that the city's name was Tshwane and not Pretoria.